wish you were here

Oh, it’s muh-fuckin’ Wednesday.. You better believe I did my 3 miles after this weekend. I still don’t feel normal.

Anyway, for some reason yesterday I wanted to listen to some 90′s rock. You know, Jawbox, Shiner, Failure, Hum, Quicksand, whatever. And then I realized I have haven’t listened to Houston in a very long time.

I saw Houston open up for Shiner 4 years ago at the Cooler Lounge. They were a perfect combination of noise, melody, power, smarts, and real musicianship. I was in love. I snatched up any recordings they had, bought a couple of shirts, and could not stop listening to them for almost a year.

They were just nice guys from Minneapolis out on tour and having a great time, and that’s what I miss about going to lots of shows: seeing the real musicians out there, working hard and loving what they do. You want to hand them money to keep going and come back.

The last time I saw them in concert was I think 2003 at Roma right before it closed, and unfortunately, right before the band broke up. It was a sad day for me when I read about it, but not all good things should last forever. And there’s always the killer CDs I have, my favorite being Overhead. Their song “Cover” is my favorite song of theirs, so feel the love.

Houston – Cover from the album Overhead(I’m not sure where you’d get a CD of theirs other than someone burning one for you but you might have some luck at their old MySpace page)

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I do have to catch up on some stuff to post, but it’ll have to wait. Going to see Penn & Teller for free tonight.

So X-Men 3: Harry Knowles pretty much summed it up. I’ll write more later, I just wanted to get the link up.

That’s right, I said “I just wanted to get the link up.”

Oh, and good news: I’m a size 12 now. Haven’t been since middle school.

More later.

I had a fabulous time tonight. You know, it made me rethink some things. Some, though. There are still a few secrets that are needed to be kept. For me, and not anyone else.

And there’s the alcohol, and there’s the sleep. Sleep’s good. I’ll try to have an entry tomorrow.

A post-it note, er, post: Musing on piercing and watching X-Men 3/talking about being a novice comic girl.

But right now I’m going over to my brother’s for some BBQ before heading to Kimmy’s.

And here’s a picture of my grandfather Robert O’Connor, who served in WWII but wasn’t killed in action. All the same, on Memorial Day, we should remember all our soldiers, regardless:

Thursday Andy K and I went to the DMV to get some car-stuff taken care of. I took what’s probably the best driver’s license picture I’ve ever taken in my life. Now, I know that sounds silly and shallow, but you have to realize that taking pictures for me is a very difficult exercise (and I think Edison is the only person so far who’s consistenly made me look decent in any kind of spontaneous photo, godbless’im.)

Earlier in the week in one of our conversations somehow we talked about Dairy Queen Blizzards, and how our favorite was the Nerds Blizzard. Hi-five type shit. With very few exceptions, Nerds Blizzards are the only kind I’ll eat. And I don’t eat ice cream or dessert-type food much anymore. Especially now that I’m training. But there’s nothing wrong with a little treat every once in awhile.

With our DMV trip having gone very smoothly (and fairly quickly, considering I myself have been in that building for hours on end), we decide to head out on our Nerds Blizzard adventure, and the closest DQ is near my old high school.

We walk in, look at the Nerds-less menu of Blizzard types, and when we are asked what to order, Andy says in a quasi-authoratative voice, “We require Nerds Blizzards.” And the guy behind the counter says, “We don’t have Nerds, but if you buy some we can make it for you.” Oh my god, do you realize the revelation in this? That Dairy Queen will make whatever kind of Blizzard you want if you bring in the ingredient you desire? Can you imagine, hot dog Blizzards?

Across the street is a Walgreen’s. Perfect. We find the big 7-ounce boxes of Rainbow Nerds. Brilliant. And it’s a dollar. A dollar, people. Successful in our quest, we head back over, where the guy behind the counter chuckled. What, you didn’t think we weren’t for real? We’re here, we’re… in need of Nerds mixed with ice cream, bitch.

And it was on like that. I don’t remember exactly the first time I ever had a Nerds Blizzard. It may have been in college. All I know is that I love them. Ice cream and candy together is not something I delve into often, but I’m telling you this shit is crack to me. Andy and I couldn’t even get halfway done, that’s how much sugar you’re consuming. But Jesus, is it good. Even if nothing else happened that day, it was the best day ever. Just for those spoonfuls of goodness, and being able to take the rest home to the freezer. Does anyone know if all DQs do this, or did we walk into the one store that does this? I’m curious if this is a regular occurrence, because that’s a dangerous thing, being able to pick your own Blizzard ingredients.

When people ask me why I love this country, I’m going to tell them this story. Freedom of choice, people. And the means to get anything you want. Yes. That’s the shit right there.

Oh, and for tomorrow: The Great Nerds Blizzard Adventure.

Am I doing a movie review right now? Maybe, I don’t know. My reviewing skills (if I have any) lie more with the musical spectrum of things, but I’ll give a movie a try, even if this is more a personal review than a critic-like review. I’m not that hardcore.

Last weekend I was able to catch Art School Confidential, written by Daniel Clowes, author of Ghost World. I had a passing interest in seeing this movie– I loved Ghost World and was piqued to see a movie with a screenplay written by someone who got his start in graphic novelling. Add to that going to a liberal arts school, in a writing program where all of the kinds of characters in this flick were in my program, and I would’ve seen it if the chance arose.

And I have to say: I really liked this movie. I really did go to school with all these people. Hell, I could say that I still know people like this in the local arts scene. I think that every writer, visual artist, movie maker, clothes designer, musician, etc. goes into college thinking they’re the hottest thing since sliced bread and realize that even if they are that good, it’s still about who you know. All art is relative, right? One man’s trash is another’s treasure. Just because nobody understands it, doesn’t make it art.

I laughed out loud at points during the movie. I almost sympathized too much with the main character. If Wonder Boys and this flick had a child, it would almost match my college experience, especially your freshman year, when you’re getting to know your way around the people, things, and emotions of being a first year art student (who was told about the immense amount of talent he/she had, only to have the bubble burst).

And, of course, it brings up the important questions about what art means, and what fame means being an artist, how does approval weigh in. Is it better to gain recognition so you can keep working, opening yourself up to being a sellout? What really is the motivation behind creating, other than developing talent? At some point, does every Dante have a Beatrice? It certainly brought those questions up in my mind (again)– what kind of vision do I have as a writer? What do I want to say/not say?

There were some really obvious things going on used to fill up time: the fashion designer roommate who’s finally figuring out his sexuality; the bitter ex-girlfriend of the love interest; a sub-plot of a rash of murders happening on campus that is being made into a suspense triller movie by the main character’s other roommate (played perfectly by Ethan Suplee, best known for the guy who couldn’t see the sailboat in Mallrats, and dressed up Kevin Smith-like for an interview at the end of the flick).

And, as always, Jim Broadbent and John Malkovich are brilliant.

I would definitely recommend it to you if you’ve known anyone with any artistic ambitions at all. It made me actually long for the long-gone halcyon days of Freshman Year.

I’m happy you’re back. I just feel like there’s a conversation we need to have. But I can wait.

Right at this moment, I’m a mess. I went to a funeral this morning for one of our regulars at the bar, I haven’t heard back about the appraisal yet, I didn’t get a chance to run (I miss-typed that as fun earlier, figure that out) today, and I have to give blood and host a reading that nobody’s going to come to later.

And I wanted to write about seeing Art School Confidential last weekend and luckily being able to see The Boondock Saints on the big screen (finally). Oddly enough, these two are connected, according to IMDB: “According to a recent pod-cast interview, Terry Zwigoff (dierector of Art School) based his direction for Ethan Suplee on the way Troy Duffy acts as a director in the documentary Overnight.” Troy Duffy being the director of Boondock Saints. I’ll write about those, maybe tomorrow.

Add to that I haven’t really thought about my post today. There’s just been too much going on. Though I’m considering myself very lucky that any drama going on with people has nothing to do with me. But it’s made me think.

So I’ll promote an old friend of mine, who I haven’t seen in a very long time, and he’s playing in town tomorrow night. His name’s Phil Stendek, and he’s a singer-songwriter/loop-artist from St. Louis.

I met Phil over 3 years ago at a slam. He was on tour, and happened to book the night a qualifying slam was going on, and he played after the slam was over and just blew all of us away. I wasn’t expecting a whole lot– I’d seen so many musicians come in and out of this town, and so many local musicians who just plain suck. And Phil gave me a fresh look at acoustic music. I was a fan.

A few months later, he moved here to Vegas to try it out. The nights that he was playing at the Palms, he got us to do poetry there on the same night. I performed with him at one of his solo shows there. He’s just one of those artists you want to see make it because he’s the nicest guy, period. And he covers Jeff Buckley, so how could you hate on that?

So I’m gonna post one my favorite songs of his, “You Know It’s So Perfect.” Though if you go over to his site, you can download his cover of Wilco’s “I Am Trying To Break Your Heart,” which just kills me.

Philip Reilly Stendek – You Know It’s So Perfect from his personal site (But get over there and buy his CDs, they’re absolutely worth it, and you’re supporting a real independent artist!)

I want to talk about all the stuff going on without it looking like I’m airing other people’s drama. I want to feel like I can be objective without it looking like I’m an asshole.

Or maybe I just want to play Armchair Psychologist and try to make myself look smarter than I really am.

I’ll think about this at work today.